India, June 5 -- The Kremlin has never harbored illusions about the United States serving as a neutral mediator in the Ukraine conflict, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, drawing a direct line between Washington's ongoing arms transfers to Kyiv and the limits of its credibility as an honest broker.

"We have never idealized the status of the United States, because American weapons are constantly being supplied to Ukraine and sold to the Ukrainian armed forces," Peskov told reporters. "Therefore, we have never engaged in idealization."

The remarks carry pointed diplomatic weight. Just two days earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Washington was not, in his own words, an impartial m...